Thanks again for the tips and advice. We had a great trip, despite some low temps that we were not anticipating (and we live in Alaska). I packed shorts and flip-flops. Didn’t wear them due to temps in the 30s for most of our trip. We heard several locals tell us that it’s not uncommon to experience all four seasons within a day this time of year in Kentucky.
Probably my biggest takeaway from our trip was the people. Throughout our 15-day trip, the people we interacted with were friendly, helpful, and just plain nice. It was the exception to run into an A-hole. I didn’t want to leave, and I am now looking at property listings in a few areas that we could envision relocating to. TN/KY/ NC, mostly. SC was just too crowded for me. TN is pretty crowded too, but there were some rural areas that warrant further thought.
Oddly enough, our whiskey tastings started in Gatlinburg TN. My G-friend loved some of the flavored moonshines we tried. Me, not so much, but I did find a couple of bourbons that were pretty decent. We then ventured to Chattanooga, with a slight detour to Lynchburg. Took the tour at Jack Daniels. It was the first time I’ve been able to drink JD since my last experience – while in high school…… Old #7 is still not something I will EVER reach for, but their Rye and single barrel stuff was a pleasant surprise. It was a great tour that took us through every step of the process of making Tennessee Whiskey and seeing the charcoal filtering process. There’s still that smell and flavor in some of their whiskey that, to this day – just makes me feel sick.
At Chattanooga, we visited Chattanooga Whiskey Company. Enjoyed several, including a couple of high malts and single malts. There is just enough smoke and peat to believe I’m drinking a Scotch. Not sure how they pull that off……
From there we stopped at Nashville for three days. One walk up and down Broadway street was enough for me. That scene is nuts. Maybe if I was still in my 20’s I’d have enjoyed it more, but the constant barrage of noise coming at me from all directions was overwhelming. Although, we did have a couple of drinks at the Wild Horse and that venue was very enjoyable. We dropped in and had an impromptu dinner at the Continental, at the Grand Hyatt hotel. Had a steak topped with truffles along with a few other things going on that was friggin amazing…
From Nashville, we traveled north and stopped at Dueling Grounds outside of Bowling Green. Ended up taking one of their 7-Year Bourbons with us. Very small operation, but the guys were terrific.
We then stayed two nights at Bardstown at the Bardstown Motor Lodge. It has been recently renovated, and they did put some money and effort into it. It’s a bit quirky, and the building is dated, but the room was clean and comfortable. As it is quite close to a main route in/out of town, there was a fair amount of road noise from 4 AM on. The restaurant on site is actually quite good. Just know that there are two or three days that you are limited to the bar menu. We ate lunch one day at the Bardstown Distillery restaurant, and it was excellent.
For distilleries, we toured Willet and tasted at Lux Row on the first day there. Willet was fun. It was laid back and the tastings were throughout the tour. Lux Row has a nice gift shop and cocktail bar. We tasted a flight and one barrel thief sample in a rick house. Bardstown was the following day, along with Makers Mark. At Bardstown, we did a barrel thief tasting in one of their rick houses. We tasted from three barrels that had about 6 years of age on them. It was interesting to see the other bourbon brands that are Bardstown’s “partners”, and the history of this ‘new’ distillery. Some partners are simply “client xx”, while others are not keeping their brand name secret. Blue Run is one of them. The Makers tour was nice. Of all our distillery visits, this one definitely had the most attractive grounds. The grounds seem equally as important as the buildings. We then spent the rest of the day hunting the local stores for unicorns. (I had several requests to find bottles for friends.) I was pretty shocked at the secondary prices, everywhere…… I just can’t bring myself to spend 5X, or even 10X release costs for a bottle of whiskey. None are worth that to me. 2X, maybe….
We stayed in Louisville for the next two nights. Stayed downtown at the Hyatt. Nice hotel, good location for walking around downtown, and the room was spacious. For a city the size of Louisville, it felt smaller and less busy, and traffic was not terrible. And while I’m sure there are areas one would be wise to say clear of, I never felt uncomfortable. We ate at Barn 8 one night and a big chain bar downtown the second night. Barn 8 was interesting. The light show they have was the high-lite of the evening. I am a builder and the investment they put into this ‘walk’ was significant. I’m surprised they don’t charge for it. A very elaborate walkway and trio’s of projectors staged (and sound) at several stops, creating some nice lite shows on the surrounding trees/foliage, accompanied by music.
The following morning, we did the E H Tailor tour at Buffalo Trace. It was OK, but this distillery is so large and industrial, I didn’t really enjoy it that much (despite loving Tailor bourbons). It was “Blantons day” when we visited, and there were at least 200 people in line when we got there at 0930. The gift shop was packed with folks too. All were there to snag a bottle of Blantons. I felt weird standing in line with a shirt and no Blantons, but I have several, and frankly – it’s not a favorite of mine. At this point, I’m just buying them to get a collection of horse stoppers. Imagine my surprise to see that I can buy all stoppers at the gift store. I didn’t buy any though, cause that just seems like cheating to me…. Probably should have. After BT, we toured Woodford Reserve. This was another attractive distillery and grounds. Once again, learned a few things and appreciated the copper pot stills they use. We stopped by Castle and Key and had a flight of their booze and wandered about the grounds. They have a lot of work to do yet, but the grounds and buildings are very unique and worth a visit. This place has tons of potential.
The next and last day in KY, we visited Prohibition. I’m a fan of their NuLu bourbons. They also make a very unique Tequila and gin. Out of all the Old Fashions I drank during this trip, my favorite was at this distillery’s bar. The next stop was Peerless. We tasted a very unique Rye that was finished in absinth barrels for 10 days. Apparently, last year’s release of this rye spent a lot more time in the absinth barrels, and it overpowered the rye. This year’s release has just a hint of absinth notes. I had to buy one……along with the double-oaked rye.
We spent our remaining spare time wandering through different liquor stores and just walking about Louisville. Evergreen liquor was by far our favorite. They have just about everything on hand to try that a person could wish for, and their prices for 1 OZ pours were reasonable. I was able to try several bourbons that I’ve been curious about, but refuse to buy at $300+ per bottle. I think $50 was the top price for a pour (Pappy 23 and King of Bourbon). I passed on the Pappy and tried KoB. I really did not want to like this, but can’t deny that it’s pretty damn good. I’m still not buying any. though Another person at this tasting bar let us know that Old Forester just dropped a special barrel-proof release rye, and if we wanted one, we should go grab it before it sells out. We did. I like Old Forester….
All in all, a pretty good trip, but definitely not long enough to really take in the country. I plan to go back again soon. I’d like to spend some time near Lexington as well as Knoxville. We kinda bypassed both.
